Tap and Go GoPass makes accessing ® the DART System quick and easy Every weekday, Maria Hernandez boards the Route 350 bus along Parker Road in East Plano, puts $2.50 in quarters in the farebox and rides the bus until it reaches her job as a housekeeper in Addison. And every afternoon, she reverses the trip. Since she is paid daily, she pays her fare daily, too. Soon, Hernandez will be able to pay with cash at the nearby grocery store and add money to her account on either the new GoPass mobile app or the new GoPass Tap card. She will get the same savings and convenience as those daily DART riders who buy a monthly pass. “For people in low- and moderateincome households who make up the unbanked or underbanked population, cash is king,” Chief Financial Officer David Leininger said. “Unfortunately, their reliance on cash means they typically pay more for services, including public transportation.” DART now is working with automated fare collection specialist Vix Technology and cash payment expert PayNearMe to develop better options for its cash-based customers. GoPass will include a mobile wallet DART launched GoPass in September 2013. In its current form, GoPass makes purchasing transit and admission passes easy, but customers must have a credit or debit card to do that. Now the agency is working on an enhanced version of GoPass, which will be available in November 2017. The upgraded app will allow customers to add money to a transit account, which they can use to pay for their DART passes. DART riders will be able to pay with cash at PayNearMe’s more than 900 retail partners to add money to their account. Customers also can keep a credit or debit card on file. GoPass Tap is a reloadable payment card for transit Next year, PayNearMe’s retail locations also will sell DART’s new GoPass Tap card. As with the updated GoPass mobile app, customers can put money on an account with cash or a credit or debit card, then use the account to purchase mobile passes whenever needed. The tap cards will be reloadable and registrable, so if the card is lost, one’s money is protected. DART is installing electronic validators on buses and at rail platforms. Riders will simply tap their GoPass Tap card, a contactless credit/debit card or use Apple Pay, Android Pay or Samsung Pay at the reader. Unlike the fareboxes, the system will debit the exact fare. On the trains, fare enforcement officers will have hand-held devices to verify that customers did tap before boarding. By creating more cash-based options, DART wants to make it easier for riders like Hernandez to pay for their transit trips in the way that is most convenient. 8 Learn more: GoPass.org Beginning in mid-2018, customers will be able to use cash to load value onto a reloadable GoPass Tap transit card. Riders must touch the GoPass Tap card to the electronic validator – located on the rail platform or at the bus entrance– every time they board and the fare will be deducted automatically. 3
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